Storing more free power

I learnt something new this weekend. After some experimentation, I’ve learnt that I can now charge my home battery system using energy drawn from the national grid.

When I first installed my Goodwe solar inverter and battery storage system back in 2021, I was somewhat dismayed by the fact that I could only charge the battery using energy generated by the solar panels on my roof. In other words, I could not charge the battery using energy drawn from the grid. It looks like between 2021 and now, Goodwe has released a firmware upgrade that now allows their GW5000-EH inverter to draw energy from the grid at a schedule that the customer choses.

Did someone say free power?

As I touched on in a previous post, my electricity (grid) connection is supplied to me via an electricity retailer who provides customers with free power between the hours of 21:00 and 24:00. The retailer has done this as an incentive for customers to use their large appliances outside of the evening peak. My home automation system capitalises on this window of time to store additional thermal energy in my hot water cylinder, and now my inverter does something similar for storing electricity in the PylonTech battery.

How to configure the Goodwe inverter to charge from the Grid

The Goodwe inverter can be programmed in two different ways:

1. Via the SEMS Portal app, which requires your inverter to be connected to Goodwe’s cloud for monitoring and control.
2. Via the Solar Go app, which is typically used to configure the inverter during installation and requires your phone to be connected to the inverters WiFi hotspot.

As my inverter is connected to Goodwe’s cloud, I’m going to describe how to enable this functionality using the SEMS Portal app. A brief aside: For my particular installation, I want the Goodwe inverter and PylonTech battery to behave in the following way:

1. Between 00:00 and 20:59, I want my system to:
   1. Use any solar generation to first supply the appliances (loads) within my home.
   2. Use any excess generation (over and above the loads in my home) to charge the PylonTech battery.
   3. Once the PylonTech battery is charged, send any excess generation into heating my hot water cylinder.
   4. Once both the PylonTech battery and hot water cylinder are “charged”, export any excess generation onto the grid (to earn a rebate).
2. Between 21:00 and 24:00, which is when my retailer supplies me with free power, I want my system to draw power from the national Grid to:
   1. Charge the PylonTech battery, and
   2. Heat my hot water cylinder (hotter than it would normally run).

Setting the inverters operation mode

Once connected to Goodwe’s cloud, setting the operating mode on your Goodwe inverter is as simple as:

1. Launch the SEMS Portal app on your mobile phone.
2. You should land on the System Overview page.
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the System Overview page and tap on your inverter Device.
4. Taping your device should launch the Monitoring sub-menu. Within the Monitoring sub-menu, locate and tap the Configure button.
5. The Remotely Control menu will load. Tap the Working Mode button within this meanu, and then tap the Eco Mode button.
6. You will now be presented with an option to set up to four individual charge/discharge schedules. For my use case, I have only set a single schedule that tells the inverter to charge at 100% between 21:00 and 23:59.
7. Lastly, save your changes and wait for them to apply.

Having applied you changes, your inverter is now operating in General Mode during the hours of 00:00 and 20:59, and during the hours of 21:00 and 23:59, it is operating in Eco Mode to charge the battery (in my particular case).

Screenshots of the Goodwe SEMS Portal app

Did it work as intended?

The results speak for themselves… Energy trends over 24 hours